Skadden: Power, Money, and the Rise of a Legal Empire

by Lincoln Caplan

In this unprecedented look at the culture of American lawyering, Lincoln Caplan shows us Skadden's origins in the white-shoe postwar legal world and its rise to preeminence in the era of Drexel Burnham Lambert - the firm's largest client in the eighties. Skadden is revealed as a place that prizes opportunists but which also created a $10 million program to support public-interest lawyers. In Caplan's probing and even-handed account, the story of Joe Flom's firm illuminates an era in America business and society. "Caplan's inside insights are fascinating. It is as if we get not only one of L.A. Law's best episodes, but also a lot of what is usually left on the cutting-room floor." - Booklist

Genres: Law, Economics, Business, Nonfiction

368 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good look at Skadden's history.

[Samuel Hoover · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good anthropology of a giant legal institution. Came into this after reading Barbs at the Gate and was expecting something similar but this just wasn’t that, so may have skewed my opinion slightly. Still a very interesting and easy read.

[Aymen Alramadhan]

A legal historian describing the early world of hostile takeovers. Recommended by Malcolm Gladwell in his book - Outliers.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally finished this! Automatic one-star deduction for non-fiction book with no index. I realize this may be petty, but c'mon, people.

[Tyler Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book for Law School Students, potential Law School Students, and for individuals interested in how parts of the legal profession operate. A lot of things about law firms are typically kept quite secret and behind the doors. You do hear some rumors on the online forums, however this book you hear it straight from the sources(e.g. partners, managing partners, members of the Committee). Lincoln Caplan opens up a prominent law firm and exposes how it operates internally to the public. You can really see how a huge organization like Skadden is not so homogenous in the inside. You can see how it's just an amalgamation of individuals running things and how in the end they all try to unify. Quite interesting to see how politics is involved in firm management.


This book goes over the history of the legal profession, the rise of M&A during the 70s and 80s, and the culture/inner workings of Skadden. In the end Caplan discusses what Skadden has in store for the future. This book is mostly going over surface level matters. It's not getting in the nitty gritty details of high stakes litigation or due diligence for M&A. It does discuss some anti takeover strategies used such as the poison pill or how agressive companies appeal to the shareholders to takeover companies. But it's not going into detail, which may be good since it could potentially get boring for the audience. Overall, this book is a great primer to "BigLaw' for Law School Students and the general public.

Pretty good book, I would recommend it to others.

[Guillermo DeLeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Superbly written and researched. A great account of the early days of Skadden and its rise to the top.